


The Silent Treatment

by Oracle507



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hugs, If you like unsympathetic sides content that's fine but not in this household, Insecure Logic | Logan Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders Angst, Logic | Logan Sanders Needs a Hug, Panic Attacks, Sad Logic | Logan Sanders, The sides are bad at feelings, sympathetic everyone, the silent treatment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:26:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25652068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oracle507/pseuds/Oracle507
Summary: While Logan could tolerate the other sides occasionally disregarding his suggestions, an easily avoidable medical crisis pushes him over the edge.
Relationships: Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Deceit | Janus Sanders & Logic | Logan Sanders, Deceit | Janus Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders & Everyone, Logic | Logan Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders
Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1859785
Comments: 9
Kudos: 186
Collections: Bad Things Happen Bingo





	The Silent Treatment

Roman, Virgil, and Logan sat in the living room of the mindscape. The day had been relatively normal, something Logan greatly appreciated. Anything extraordinary just led to Thomas deviating from the schedule. While the schedule did allow for the occasional surprise/crisis that may or may not result in Thomas questioning his entire existence, if every day were like that nothing would ever get done.

That of course meant Roman had to intervene. “Talk to him, Thomas!” he said as Thomas waited for his Starbucks order. “There is a cute guy right over there.”

“No,” Virgil said, leaning against the wall and absentmindedly playing with the end of his jacket sleeve (Sign of mild anxiety. Risk of escalating into a panic attack is low. Proceed with an appropriate level of caution.)

“Come on, you Sour Patch Killjoy. I am only suggesting Thomas engage in some innocent flirting that could lead to getting his phone number and end in marriage. Why can’t-”

“We’re in public. If Thomas gets rejected, people will see and talk about it.”

“This entire debate is inconsequential,” Logan said. “Thomas’s order will be ready in approximately 3 minutes. That is hardly enough time to-”

“So you think Thomas should never flirt with anyone?” Roman asked Virgil. “Do you want Thomas to never find his Prince Charming?”

Logan let the fight play out, knowing Thomas would soon collect his coffee and this conversation will be over. It annoyed him that the whole situation would have resolved itself if they had listened to him, but that was a common occurrence time had forced him to grow accustomed to.

* * *

Thomas had some time to relax near the end of the day. It was just Logan and Patton together in the living room now. He sat on the couch reading as Patton paid closer attention to Thomas. He opened Netflix on his TV, as he did nearly every night, and began scrolling. “Oh, Avatar!” Patton said. “We haven’t rewatched that in a while.”

“He rewatched that last month.”

“Yeah, a _whole_ month ago.”

Logan sighed. “If Thomas must spend his time consuming media he has already seen, he should at least watch the first season of Umbrella Academy. The next season is coming out soon, so it may benefit him to refresh his memory.”

“Yeah, but Avatar!”

“That’s not an argument. Thomas has nothing to gain from rewatching a cartoon he has completed 26 times already.”

“And now it’s time for 27!”

“No, Patton.”

He pouted. “Not everyone has to be productive, Logan.”

“I know that, but-” Logan cut himself off. There was no appropriate conclusion to that sentence. ‘Patton is completely correct. Thomas does not always need to act with a goal in mind.’ Even so, as Thomas played the first episode of Avatar, Logan couldn’t help but wish they would listen to him for once.

* * *

The next morning, all of the main sides gathered in the mindscape kitchen. Virgil sat on the counter (very unsanitary, but they are technically not real so that is not a true concern. Hopefully Thomas will not emulate this behavior) as the rest of them prepared a simple breakfast for themselves. The conversation remained casual and Thomas’s morning was nothing out of the ordinary so far. As far as Logan could tell, Virgil had no reason to jump off the counter in panic, and yet he did.

“Bad. Very bad.” Logan focused his attention on Thomas. He was in the bathroom examining his right arm. An odd red bump had appeared overnight with no obvious origin. ‘It doesn’t look like a bug bite.’ 

“Nothing about the mark indicates immediate danger. I recommend Thomas…” His voice trailed out as Virgil began pacing. (Pacing for Virgil indicates a possible panic attack. Best practice is to eliminate the source of panic or move Virgil away from it. If neither is possible, use logic to deconstruct the anxious thoughts.)

“What is that? Is it infected? Where did it come from? Is it cancer?” Virgil stopped pacing to pull his hood up. (Virgil pulls his hood up when the panic reaches the point where a panic attack is inevitable. Use coping techniques such as breathing strategies and grounding to calm him before addressing the source of anxiety.)

“It’s okay, Kiddo.” Patton coaxes Virgil to sit down on the ground. “Let’s take some deep breaths, okay?”

“Thomas, Google it,” Roman said.

“What? No, you should never Google your symptoms.” Logan resisted the urge to facepalm as Thomas followed Roman’s advice.

“Raised bumps on the skin are common and can have a variety of causes, ranging from acne to skin cancer,” Thomas read.

“See! Skin cancer. It’s skin cancer.” Patton wrapped an arm around Virgil in an attempt to calm him down. Thomas continued to read through the Google results, his panicked brain jumping over everything that said it is most likely harmless. Logan tried once more to tell Thomas to stop and video chat with his doctor, but he couldn’t get through the chaos.

‘That’s it.’ Without thinking about it, Logan picked up two pots and banged them together. Everyone, including Thomas, clutched their head in pain. The pain faded for the sides but they could all sense their Thomas’s headache.

As everyone stared at Logan in shock, he took the opportunity to speak up. “I apologize, Thomas. That was rash of me. I just need you to stop Googling your symptoms and speak with your doctor. I highly doubt that the bump puts you in any sort of immediate danger, so you can wait for your headache to subside. Again, I apologize for that.” Thomas responded that it was okay before following his advice. 

“What was that!?” Roman asked.

Logan almost apologized to him but stopped himself. ‘Why is this my fault? I acknowledge that my actions could have been better thought out, but I needed to get their attention. They are the ones regularly ignoring me.’ “I had to get you all to stop making the situation worse.”

“How were we making it worse? We had it handled. You’re the one that gave him a headache.”

“It’s alright, Roman,” Patton said, still sitting next to Virgil. He helped the other side stand up. Virgil averted his eyes from the others, likely out of unwarranted embarrassment.

“No, it’s not alright. Everyone was fine, but then Doctor Who Cares over here had to but in because ‘he’s the logically side and he’s soooooo much smarter than us.’”

“My intention was not to insult your intelligence. I only wanted to-”

“Save it. You always do this. You think we can’t take care of things, so you have to jump in and take care of it for us.”

“The situation was escalating in a way that was detrimental for all of us.”

“And giving Thomas a headache wasn’t detrimental for all of us.”

“It was more productive than anything you were doing.”

“Shut it!” Virgil said. “Do you two wanna keep yelling and make Thomas’ headache worse?”

“Right. I’m sorry, Virgil.” Roman moved to take Patton’s place beside him. “Let’s get away from Mr. ‘I’m the only good side’ over here.” Roman led Virgil out of the room. Logan could have sworn he’d seen Virgil glare at him as he left.

“Don’t worry about Roman, Kiddo,” Patton said, forcing a smile. “I’m sure he didn’t mean that. He’s probably just upset he didn’t think of that. No one’s actually mad at you.”

Logan didn’t respond, instead opting to storm off to his room.

* * *

Logan burst into his room with a desperate need to vent his frustration. Instead of attempting to speak to the other sides, redirecting this energy into something productive, or anything else remotely logical, he punched his bed a few times before collapsing onto it. ‘I solved the problem. No one has any right to be upset with me for doing so.’

After screaming into his pillow and hitting it a couple times for good measure, he could finally calm down enough to think. ‘Fine. If they refuse to listen to my advice, I will stop giving it.’ He reached for a notepad and pencil beside his bed (always keep a writing instrument and paper available in case of emergency) and began writing.

 _Hypothesis_ _: If I refrain from communicating with the other sides, the average level of daily chaos will increase and the others will begin to appreciate my input._

 _Experiment_ _: I will not say a word to anyone except under the following circumstances, even then using as few words as possible._

  * _Thomas directly requires my assistance._


  * Another side directly asks me a question.


  * Thomas’ safety is in imminent danger.



Logan read over the sheet once more to insure nothing could be added or improved. Once he was done, he lied back down, unsure how to proceed with his day. He decided to spend his time reading alone in his room. No one checked on him.

* * *

When Logan (rather, when Thomas) woke up the next morning, he forced himself to enter the living room. While it was… telling that no one checked in on him, the experiment could not proceed without him interacting with the others at all. Patton sat by himself smiling on the couch as he worked on completing a puzzle. Logan sat on the other end of the room to continue reading. 

“Good morning,” Patton said . Logan waved at him without looking up. “I don’t know if you were paying attention since you weren’t out here, but Thomas talked to his doctor and showed her the bump. It should go away on its own in a few days.” Logan nodded. “She also said it’s not a good idea to Google symptoms when stuff like this happens. How did you know that?”

He thought for a moment about how to respond using as few words as possible. “Common sense.” He looked up his time.

Patton continued smiling at him, but it no longer reached his eyes. “Oh, well, good job.” The conversation died out quickly afterwards.

* * *

By the end of the day, Logan has said a total of 9 words: Common, sense, fine, fine, coffee, sure, no, need, okay. He’d found it shockingly easy to go through his day while remaining mostly silent. Too easy. He took out his notes.

_Summary of First Full Day: I held strictly to the rules without fail. None of the others portrayed any sign that they noticed. Results inconclusive._

* * *

Logan laid on his back staring at the ceiling of his room. The experiment, if he could even call it that anymore, had continued for a full week. The hypothesis had been disproven days ago when Patton didn’t even bother to offer him coffee one morning. He always offered Logan coffee. By that point, Logan had become another piece of furniture in the room to them. No one really acknowledged him. ‘Had they ever?’

He thought back in a sick kind of pride at his day. ‘Only 3 words. That’s a new record.’ The pride quickly found itself replaced by shame. ‘Have I truly become so obsolete that they won’t even notice my absence?’

Logan almost fell off his bed when he heard someone slow clapping. ‘Well done, Logan.” Janus said. Logan sat up and opened his mouth to speak before stopping himself. “Oh, am I part of this too? How fun.” Janus leaned back in Logan’s desk chain with his legs crossed. “You know, I must praise you for your originality. You surely must be the first person in history to ever think of using silence as a weapon in order to get back at people you’re annoyed with. What will you call it? Wait, don’t tell me. The quiet revenge? No, that just sounds like you poisoned someone. How about the silent treatment.” He sat back up straight. “That’s it! Certainly has a nice ring to it.”

“What do you need, Janus?”

“Oh, would you look at that. The little mermaid got his voice back.”

“I’m serious. Why are you doing this?”

“You know, just checking in on a friend. Making sure he didn’t get his vocal cords cut out without telling anyone.”

“Well, if you are aware of my ‘silent treatment’, as you put it, then you know how it is going. Since the others are not hindered by my lack of input, then why not continue refraining myself from joining their conversations? They certainly seem to prefer it that way.” Logan felt his checks get warm as Janus burst out laughing. “What about this is humorous to you?”

“Nothing, nothing. It’s just… wow. And I thought the dark sides had communication issues.” He took a breath to calm himself. “If you really think the other main sides ‘prefer it this way’, then you are not nearly as observant as you claim to be. I’m here right now because Patton asked me to check on you. He’s noticed your sudden tendency to isolate yourself and is worried about you. Virgil and Roman are, too. And yet here you are, wallowing in your bed complaining that no one likes you. Have you been spending too much time with Virgil? Don’t answer that, that was rhetorical.”

“... Did Patton tell you this or is this all conjecture?”

“Oh, he told me. He also said a bunch of other stuff like ‘this is all my fault’ and ‘I should’ve tried harder to talk to him but now he’s probably even more mad at me.’ I assumed you didn’t care about those parts.” He stood up and adjusted his jacket. “Just talk to them, okay? I don’t want this to get bad enough that Roman or Virgil has to come running to me to solve their problems.” He shuddered at the thought before disappearing.

* * *

Patton and Roman cuddled against each other on the couch in the living room as Virgil sat on the back of the couch leaning directly against the wall. Logan watched them from the hallway. ‘Either Janus is correct or I will end my silence streak for nothing.’ As he thought about it, he realized it likely was not the best move to take Janus at his word. ‘I can still turn back. As a matter of fact, I probably should.’

Just before he could escape back to his room, he heard someone call his name. He turned back around to see Patton waving. Virgil whispered something in Patton’s ear but he continued to wave Logan over. ‘I suppose this is happening whether I like it or not.’

Logan sat down in a chair across from them. “Good morning.”

“Finally!” Roman said. “You’re whole ‘I’m gonna stop talking to people because I’m better than them’ thing got old a long time ago.”

“My…. What are you talking about?”

“Now now, Roman. Let’s not be rude. Logan had every right to be angry with us. He did end up being right.” ‘They thought… They actually thought I was doing that because I was angry with them?’

“It’s been a week! Even _I’m_ not that dramatic.”

Virgil shrugged. “I used to sulk for months. This is nothing.”

“I wasn’t-!” Logan stopped himself to calm down. ‘Getting angry will only prove their point.’ “I was not sulking. I was doing an experiment.” It was only once the words left his mouth that he realized how idiotic this sounded.

“Whatcha mean, Kiddo?” Patton asked, frowning.

“I wished to see how long I could only speak as little as possible before others spoke to me about it.” 

Virgil moved to sit down on the couch cushion, hugging his knees. “Well, we noticed pretty quickly,” he said. “I kinda just thought you were pulling a me and sulking in your room, so I told them not to push you or anything.”

“You really didn’t think we’d noticed for a whole week?” Roman said. “Since you’re normally obsessed with making us ‘do something productive’ or ‘stick to the schedule’, the sudden lack of that was pretty hard to miss.”

Patton lightly elbowed him. “Be nice, Roman. Didn’t you have something you wanted to say once Logan was feeling better?”

“What? Why do I have to go first?” He sighed as his cheeks went red. “Fine. I’m sorry for not listening to you, Logan. You were right. I was making the problem worse.”

“I’m…” Virgil bit his lip. “Me too. I kinda got mad at you for what happened, but like…. You gotta do what you gotta do, I guess. We weren’t really listening to you, so it was kinda our fault.”

“I’m also sorry,” Patton said. “I should’ve checked on you to make sure you were okay. We’ll try not to let anything like that happen again.”

Logan knew that should have reassured him. They will try to do better. They will try to listen to him. Instead of feeling relieved, he felt blood rush to his cheeks and he clenched his fists. “No.”

“You… You want this to happen again?” Patton tilted his head.

“No, this _will_ happen again! Do you think this is the first time you all completely ignored me? Just decided what I thought didn’t mean anything and did whatever you wanted? I let it go for insignificant things such as what show Thomas should watch, but I can’t do that anymore. None of you actually listen to what I’m saying. You just do what you want and expect me to help you get out of whatever mess you cause. It isn’t healthy for Thomas and it isn’t healthy for....” His anger deflated as he leaned back in his chair. He wiped his eyes, for the first time realizing tears had started to fall from them.

“Logan…. Can I…?” Patton stood in front of him with his arms stretched out. Logan stood up to accept his hug. “I’m so, so sorry, Kiddo. I didn’t know. I’m so sorry I made you feel that way.It can just be hard sometimes to… No, no excuses. I’m sorry.”

“I guess my jokes about you trying to boss us around weren’t really… good.” Logan pulled back to look at Roman. “I’m sorry. Whenever I see a chance for Thomas to reach for the stars and take one step closer to his dream, it’s hard to see anything else. Nevertheless, I promise to try..” Roman also stood up to give Logan a hug. Despite his usual dislike of displays of affection such as this, it felt warranted at the moment. Logan accepted the gesture, although it lasted far less time than Patton’s.

“My turn, I guess. Um, me too? They kinda already said everything I have to say. I’m not giving you a hug, though.”

“That’s quite alright, Virgil. Thank you.”

“Oh, I have an idea!” Patton said. “We should come up with something for Logan to do when there’s something big going on that means we all need to stop and listen to him.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Something that doesn’t give Thomas a headache, you mean?”

“This hardly seems necessary,” Logan said.

“Come on, Lo!” Patton grabbed his arm. “It’ll be good!”

“Slow down there, Pat,” Roman said. “We just went over this.”

“Oh!” Patton zipped his mouth shut with his fingers.

“On second thought, perhaps it may be a good idea to have some sort of system in place,” Logan said.

“Yay!” Roman clapped three times. “Does that work?”

“Just clap three times? I suppose that is a good starting point. It certainly isn’t loud enough to harm Thomas in any way.”

“Great!” Patton said. “I’m gonna make breakfast for everyone. What do you want, Lo?”

“I typically just have toast and fruit in the morning, but I assume you would want something grander for… whatever this is.”

“What you want is what you get, my friend.” Roman patted him on the back. “Come on, Pat. Let’s go cut some fruit!”

After the two of them left, Logan took a seat next to Virgil. “My apology wasn’t as… good as there’s. I’m just… you know I’m not good at that stuff.”

“I understand. There’s no need for you to say anything further if you do not wish to.”

“No, but this is all my fault in the first place. When you started not talking to us, I just sort of assumed you were mad and wanted to be left alone. I made this into a bigger thing than it needed to be by telling them to leave you alone. That’s what I want when I’m like that, so… yeah.”

“It can be natural to project onto others. It is not logical, but I don’t think less of you for it.”

“Yeah, well, it’s not even just that. I’m the reason things get out of control all the time. If I wasn’t freaking out about the bump thing, everyone could’ve been thinking clearer and listened to you.”

“You were not ‘freaking out’, you had a panic attack. I will not fault you for that.”

Virgil gave him a slight smile. “Thanks… I really should try to listen to you more when I’m panicking. I normally go to Patton because he’s more… comforting, I guess. I feel better when he helps me, that’s just numbing it. You actually make the panic go away, and I kinda need that sometimes.”

“That… It is good to know that I help you. I sometimes wonder if I am too cold while assisting you with your panic attacks.”

“Nah, you’re fine. I know you aren’t really an emotions guy. I get it.”

The two of them sat together in a comfortable silence. Logan doubted that there would never be another red-bump incident, but at least he knew they would try. That was enough for now.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm always looking to improve, so feel free to leave your criticisms/questions in the comments or message me on my Tumblr. Link to that: https://nerdywriterhaven.tumblr.com/  
> My first one shot is done! I'm kinda nervous about this because I've never tried making shorter content before. I hope this was good!  
> Note: While I did reference the new season of Umbrella Acadamy in this chapter, I have not seen it yet. No spoilers pls.


End file.
